c. 1997 Religion News Service

UNDATED _ Sex, drugs, guns and gangs. The jeremiads and lamentations used by some adults to profile young people paint a depressing picture of a generation mired in violence and self-indulgence, fast going to hell in a handbasket.

But there’s another side.

Take Tracie Terrell. A 17-year-old from Milford, Ohio, Terrell spent a late winter weekend clearing brush from a lot on which a Habitat for Humanity home will soon rise. With 41 other teens of Milford United Methodist Church, Terrell also spent part of the weekend fasting to raise money and awareness about the problem of world hunger.

The teens were part of the estimated 500,000 young people participating in the annual 30 Hour Famine sponsored by World Vision, a Christian relief and development agency seeking to relieve hunger.”It’s rewarding to help others,”Terrell said, whether those”others”are Habitat for Humanity workers or the residents of the nursing home she and her youth group visit regularly.”I try not to be so self-centered. God just wants us to touch other people’s lives. He can do that through the things that I do for other people.” Sarah Judkins, also a member of the Milford United Methodist Church, agreed.”I want to make a difference and I want to help others,”the 13-year-old said.”It makes me feel good and makes me feel like I’m contributing something. God works through people.” Judkins’ 14-year-old brother, Andrew, says he enjoys doing the work that needs to be done rather than sending money to charities. And helping others is something that just comes naturally to him.”It’s just the way I was brought up,”said Andrew.”When we were little, my parents took us down to the soup kitchen, and we served. I believe that that needs to be done.” These teens are not alone.

According to a 1996 study by Independent Sector, a Washington, D.C.-based coalition of volunteer organizations that tracks non-profit activities, an increasing number of young people agree with Andrew.

In 1995, 13.3 million youths between the ages of 12 and 17 spent 2.4 billion hours volunteering. The numbers reflect a 7 percent rise in the number of teen volunteers and a 17 percent increase from the number of hours donated in 1991.

And like the Judkins children, teens who see their parents or other admired adults volunteer have higher volunteer rates than those who do not have adult role models.

The volunteer rate among teens who say both their parents volunteer is 78 percent; only 47 percent who say neither of their parents volunteer participate in service activities themselves.

The study also suggests that teens who begin volunteering as children are more than three times as likely to be currently volunteering than those who are not exposed to service activities early on.

Involvement in groups, especially religious organizations, also proves to be a significant factor in determining the rate at which teens volunteer. The survey reports that 74 percent of teens attending weekly religious services are volunteers, while only 43 percent of those who never attend services volunteer. Seventy percent of teen volunteers attend services weekly, or once or twice a month.

While teens involved in religious communities show a high rate of volunteering, participation in any group is a determining factor in teens’ decisions about volunteering. And teens who belong to groups are more likely to be asked to render their services.”Groups provide a sense of belonging and purpose,”said Sara Melendez, president of Independent Sector.”Too many of our young people don’t have that …” The report also found that black and Hispanic youths are among the least likely to be asked to volunteer, although both groups are very likely to help if asked.”The young people of our minority populations are an untapped resource,”Melendez said.”Young people need a sense of connectiveness to others. Too many of our young people, especially in poorest communities, don’t have the opportunities.” For 13-year-old Katie Fish, serving food at a Minneapolis soup kitchen is an opportunity created by her membership at Coon Rapids (Minn.) Epiphany Catholic Church.

On her first trip into the world of community service, Fish was glad to be with people she knew. And now that she’s done it once, she wants to help more in the future.”We have so many things that we automatically think we get,”she said.”Most people don’t get half as much. You see the other side of the world.” Charles McQuaid, 14, came away with a similar understanding after spending a Saturday serving food at a New York shelter.”It was shocking,”he said. But after talking to people at the shelter, he said he can understand some of the reasons that they’re there. And he hopes he can return with his friends from the Pompton Plains (N.J.) United Methodist Church to help again.”It’s not their fault,”he said of the shelter’s residents.”They’re not any less important.” (BEGIN OPTIONAL TRIM)

It’s difficult to provide such lessons within the classroom, but recent school initiatives are trying to motivate teens to volunteer.

According to the Independent Sector study, 16 percent of teens report their schools require volunteering and 59 percent say their schools encourage service. It also found participation in volunteer activities somewhat higher at schools that encourage community service compared with those requiring it.

And while most students say they don’t feel strongly about community service requirements, they prefer to choose their volunteer activities.

The motivation for such a preference goes beyond adolescent quests for autonomy, according to experts.

Young people are concerned that people volunteer because they believe in what they are doing.”They (teens) feel that voluntary involvement is better than forced involvement because motives are important,”Robert Wuthnow, Princeton University sociologist and author of”Acts of Compassion: Caring for Others and Helping Ourselves,”said in an Independent Sector report.”The acid test is not simply getting the job done, but doing it for the right reasons, especially doing it because there is genuine concern about the needy and a desire to help,”he said.

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Terrell, a high school senior, said she knows there are different motives among teen volunteers.”Some people just do it because it looks good on their (college) applications.”she said.”But other people realize, `I can make a difference.'”For me, it makes me appreciate how lucky I am, and the many wonderful gifts God has given me. I see how unfortunate some people are. It keeps me on focus on why I’m really here.” MJP END CAMPBELL